


Nocturnal Life

by Kittens



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Arguing, Camping, Cuddling & Snuggling, Holding Hands, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:53:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittens/pseuds/Kittens
Summary: Some planets have very loud, very obnoxious nocturnal creatures. They also must be very dangerous and Kylo and Hux better be careful!
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33
Collections: Huxloween 2020





	Nocturnal Life

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 3 of Huxloween 2020: Scared Cuddling

Kylo had a bad feeling about the mission even before they took off, but he wasn’t about to call it off, thinking that he only had such a bad feeling because Hux insisted on coming along. Anytime Hux tagged along on a mission, something went wrong. Usually it wasn’t disastrous.

This time, it was a complete disaster.

The weather conditions on the planet changed as they were making their approach. Instead of a calm, clear atmosphere, they flew through a massive storm that came out of nowhere. Kylo really couldn’t blame that on Hux, but he wanted to. Because of the storm, they ended up not only with a damaged ship but also landing way off course.

Kuruk had decided to stay with the ship and Ap’lek and Ushar went to the nearest town to get supplies to fix the _Night Buzzard_ , which meant Kylo only had three of his Knights with him. And Hux, but he wasn’t all that useful. He was too small to even carry supplies, but that didn’t stop Kylo from loading him up with as much as he possibly could. To Kylo’s surprise, he didn’t complain, at least not about the weight of the equipment.

Hux did complain about everything else.

He complained about the weather and the necessity of the mission and he complained about not bringing a speeder and about how the Knights were so quiet and why were they picking up dirt and putting it in their pockets? Of course, they were only quiet because they could talk using the Force, and they were constantly talking about Hux.

Eventually, the Knights decided they were going to go off on their own. Vicrul grabbed the back of Hux’s pack and started going through it. Of course, Hux complained about that. Once Vicrul had what he needed, he and Trudgen and Cardo took off, walking much faster than they had been with Hux.

“Where are they going?” Hux asked.

“Scouting,” Kylo said, which was more or less true. They would be going ahead and letting Kylo know if they found anything of interest, although it wasn’t necessary. 

“And why are they just doing that now?”

“You’re too slow.”

“I wouldn’t be too slow if you managed to get the ship in the right place! You said there wasn’t going to be a long walk on this mission!”

“Well. You should have known.”

“And how should I have known? I expect the mission briefing to tell me all I need to know!”

Hux continued to complain about everything that was wrong on the mission and how it was all Kylo’s fault. Kylo was tempted to walk faster and leave Hux behind, but he also liked having Hux along. As much as he wanted Hux to be quiet, he usually enjoyed the other man’s company, and outside of the Knights, Hux was the closest thing Kylo had to a friend.

Kylo also liked to think that they might run into danger and he’d have a chance to save Hux and show him just how strong he was. Then Hux would run into his arms and kiss him because he would be so happy they survived.

That would never happen. As much as Kylo enjoyed thinking about kissing Hux, he knew it was something Hux would never allow. Especially since he knew Hux didn’t like him. All Kylo could do was return that dislike and hope Hux never realized how Kylo really felt.

Because Hux was spending more energy talking than walking, they didn’t get nearly as far as Kylo would have liked. The Knights had already arrived at the temple that they were looking for but according to them, Kylo was still a few hours behind. At least Cardo had seen a good place for them to make camp for the night and he described a large tree near the river with drooping branches that would give some additional shelter to their tent.

Once Kylo found it, he pulled Hux over to it and opened up the pack of supplies Hux was carrying. He threw everything out until he found the tent — a compact, quick set up model designed by the First Order. Kylo placed the tent under the tree and then used the Force to open it up. 

“We’re stopping here for the night?” Hux asked. “Shouldn’t we continue on?”

“We won’t make it before dark,” Kylo said. “This is the best place to stop.”

“The tent can be set up anywhere,” Hux said. “We might as well get as far as we can today.”

“No.” Kylo sat down on the ground and used the Force to float a ration bar over to him. Soon, Hux sat down next to him with his own ration bar. They didn’t speak — Hux apparently ran out of things to complain about and Kylo didn’t know what to say. 

Once the sun started to go down, Kylo quickly shoved all the things he’d scattered back into the bag and went into the tent. It wasn’t the most spacious tent, but it would provide adequate shelter. The only downside was that when Hux crawled in, there was almost no room. Clearly, the tent hadn’t been designed for two people as tall as they were.

“You’d better stay on your side of the tent,” Hux said.

“You’d better stay on yours.”

“I will.”

Kylo closed his eyes, ready to sleep and get an early start the next morning. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep, but he was happy that he actually had a tent. There were times where he would just sleep outside with no shelter.

Just as he was starting to drift off, he heard an odd sound, almost a wail in the distance. Kylo was fully alert and soon, he heard the sound again. Before long, it sounded as if the sound was coming from all around them.

“What is that?” Hux asked, sitting up.

“I don’t know.” Kylo reached out in the Force and he couldn’t sense any danger, but it was hard to ignore that sound. He tried to convince himself that something about to attack them wouldn’t announce its presence like that, but maybe it was so large and fierce that it didn’t care if everything knew it was coming.

“Should we move?” Hux asked. “Find a safer place?”

“Probably safer to stay here. We can’t see out there.”

“True. I suppose it’s entirely possible that whatever’s out there doesn’t know we’re here too.”

The wailing sounds continued and just as Kylo was starting to get used to that sound, another sound joined in. It was a much deeper sound, somewhere in between scraping wood and a drum. Again, Kylo couldn’t sense anything in the Force, but perhaps that just meant they hadn’t been spotted yet.

“Perhaps one of us should keep watch,” Hux said. “How about you sleep first?”

“Yeah,” Kylo agreed. It sounded like a good plan, but he wasn’t sure how much sleep he was going to get. Still, he thought he might as well try. He laid back down, trying to tune out the sounds that were all around them. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. Surely that would protect him if something were going to attack.

Just as he’d convinced himself that everything would be fine, there was a loud squawking cry from right above them and Kylo couldn’t help but jump. Whatever it was, it sounded big and close. Kylo reached for his lightsaber but instead, he found Hux’s hand.

Hux immediately grabbed a hold of Kylo’s hand, gripping it like he was afraid to let go. And Kylo was glad for it. Although he knew that he was better in a fight, knowing that Hux was still there with him made him feel a lot better. 

As the strange sounds continued around them, Kylo scooted closer to Hux and he could feel Hux doing the same. They were right up against each other and when there was a loud screech above them, Kylo couldn’t help but bury his face in Hux’s chest and wrap his arms around him. The sounds continued, sometimes one dying down a little or moving, but they never completely stopped.

The longer they went without having some large creature tear through the tent, the better Kylo felt and he started to loosen his grip on Hux. Maybe he could manage to get a little bit of sleep, just as long as whatever was out there remained outside.

Before he could lay down, there was a loud scream right outside their tent and Kylo felt himself jump. He tightened his grip on Hux and Hux held onto him as well. The screams continued and Kylo could hear what sounded like two large, vicious animals fighting. They at least seemed interested in fighting each other, but Kylo worried they might turn their sights on the tent.

Kylo decided that he was not going to sleep at all that night — he’d stay in Hux’s arms where he was safe.

***

Somehow, Kylo had managed to fall asleep with all the noise around them and when he woke up, he was lying curled up against Hux. His first instinct was to push him away, but Hux was warm and Kylo wanted to stay there just a little bit longer.

“What are you doing?” Hux asked as he sat up. Kylo moved, but Hux didn’t completely push him away. “I told you to stay on your side!”

“You’re the one who came and cuddled with me!” Kylo said

“I did not! You were the one who was terrified!”

“You screamed!”

“I’m pretty sure that was you! Get away from me!” Hux finally pushed Kylo away, but he hesitated as he started to open up the tent.

“I thought you weren’t scared,” Kylo taunted him.

“I’m not! I was just going to ask if you’re okay with me leaving you!” With that, Hux left and Kylo quickly followed him. Just in case there was some unknown danger outside.

Everything looked just like it had the night before — there was no evidence that any large creatures had crashed through the area and there weren’t any scattered corpses of forest creatures. With no danger in sight, Kylo started to pack up the tent, grabbing a few ration bars for breakfast as he did so.

“You carry that,” Hux said once Kylo had finished packing everything up. Without waiting for a response, he took off. Kylo quickly shouldered the bag and took off after Hux.

“Wrong direction,” he said, grabbing Hux by the arm and lightly pulling him in the right direction.

They walked in silence for several hours and Kylo talked a bit to his Knights. Ap’lek and Ushar had apparently gotten into a fight in town and hadn’t returned with the parts to repair the ship yet and Kuruk was still sleeping. Vicrul, Trudgen, and Cardo seemed happy — they apparently didn’t have to deal with strange creatures all around them in the night.

As they walked, Kylo couldn’t help but think about how nice it had been to wake up in Hux’s arms and he wanted to ask him if they could try it again, preferably without monsters around, although he would take the monsters if it meant he could cuddle with Hux again. And he thought Hux must have liked it too because he hadn’t immediately pushed Kylo away.

“Hey Hux,” Kylo said. “I was thinking about last night.”

“About how you were scared of a few forest creatures?”

“You were scared too!”

“I was not!”

“Okay, that’s not the point. I was just thinking that I kinda liked it. The cuddling part. And I thought you might want to do that again.”

“You’re asking me to cuddle with you?” Hux laughed. “What would Snoke say if he knew his fearsome apprentice was begging me for cuddles?”

“It’s none of his business!” Kylo snapped. “Look, I liked it and I thought you did too. I just thought you might want to try it again. See what it’s like without things screaming around us. But never mind. If you don’t want to. I don’t either.”

Kylo picked up his pace and walked on ahead of Hux, feeling stupid for even asking. He should have known Hux wouldn’t agree to it, even if he’d enjoyed it. As he walked, he could hear Hux’s footsteps coming up behind him, but Kylo decided he wasn’t going to talk to him for the rest of the mission.

Then, Hux’s hand suddenly slid into Kylo’s and he immediately froze. He looked down at the and and then up at Hux, needing to verify that it really was Hux and not one of the monsters that apparently lived in the forest. But it was definitely Hux.

“I wouldn’t mind,” Hux said. “Preferably in an actual bed next time.”

“You’re not just trying to blackmail me?”

“You’re the one who suggested it. You’re right. I did enjoy it. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone that close to me before. It’s something I’d like to explore.”

“I’d like that too,” Kylo said with a smile. Hux started to lean forward and Kylo moved slowly, wanting to give Hux a chance to stop if he changed his mind, but Hux kept moving closer and closer. Just as their lips were almost touching, they heard the sounds of something large coming crashing towards them.

Kylo immediately pushed Hux behind him and ignited his lightsaber, ready to fight off whatever interrupted them. He expected one of the monsters that had kept them up during the night, but instead, Vicrul appeared from the forest, dragging his scythe behind him. Kylo turned his lightsaber off and hooked it back on his belt.

“What’s gotten into you?” Vicrul asked.

“Nothing,” Kylo said. “What are you doing here?”

“We got the artifact,” Trudgen said as he appeared. Cardo was close behind him. “We thought we’d come find you.”

“We can go back to the temple and wait for Kuruk,” Cardo said. “Or we can go bother him until the ship’s fixed.”

“I’d rather not spend another night out here,” Hux said.

“Yeah,” Kylo said, although he would feel better with the Knights. Whatever was in the forest hadn’t actually bothered them, but it was probably best not to give it another chance.

“Why not?” Cardo asked. “This planet is known for its interesting nocturnal life. It’s great.”

“Yeah,” Trudgen agreed. “Ap’lek sent us a guide so we could identify what we were hearing.”

“A guide?” Kylo asked. “They make guides for that.”

“Here,” Trudgen said, pulling a datapad from his pocket and handing it to Kylo. “You can listen to the different sounds and see the animals that make them.”

“Your Knights have datapads?” Hux asked.

“Trudgen does,” Kylo said as he started to look through the guide. Looking through, he didn’t see anything that looked that large. Finally, he found one critter that was nearly two meters long and had long claws and Kylo looked to get more information.

“Is that what we heard?” Hux asked as the datapad made what seemed to be a life-sized projection. 

“Maybe,” Kylo said as he played a sound recording. It was a soft grunting noise - definitely not what they had heard. There were a few other vocalizations - a growl, a hiss, and a soft clicking sound, but none of it was even close to the strange sounds they had heard all night.

“That’s not it,” Hux said, as he took the datapad. He picked another animal and played the sounds, but that wasn’t it either.

“It’s sorted by most likely for your area,” Trudgen explained. “You’re looking at not common ones.”

“Go back to the top,” Cardo said. Without waiting, he grabbed the datapad and picked an animal. It was some kind of large-eyed avian and the projection showed it in flight. The first sound Cardo played was a low, deep sound, almost soothing.

“Didn’t hear that one,” Kylo said.

“It does more,” Cardo said. The next sound was a squawk and Kylo recognized it instantly.

“That’s it!” Kylo said, remembering that it had come from right above them in the tree, which made sense for a bird.

“That’s what was making that sound?” Hux asked. “How big is it?”

“That’s it,” Trudgen said, pointing at the projection. It was hardly bigger than Hux’s fist.

“No,” Hux said. “It has to be bigger.”

“That’s not even the strangest one,” Trudgen said, grabbing the datapad. He pulled up an even smaller animal, something green and slimy with four legs and a sac on its throat that inflated. When he played the sound — a horrible wail — Kylo recognized that as well.

“And it’s that small?” Hux asked. “Are you certain?”

“Yeah,” Trudgen said. “It’s called a laana frog. We heard them too. Also this one’s common here too.”

Trudgen pulled up another frog-like creature, this one even smaller. It would have been able to comfortably sit on the end of Kylo’s lightsaber. Once again, it had a familiar sound — the deep scraping noise that had followed the wailing.

“It’s a mating call,” Vicrul said as he smashed his scythe on a nearby rock.

“There was another sound,” Hux said. “It sounded like screaming.”

“Oh, yeah. We heard that one too,” Trudgen said.

“It’s a mating call too,” Vicrul said. He was still hitting his scythe against the rock, and as he spoke, his weapon cracked. “Not again.”

“Here it is,” Trudgen said as he pulled up an orange, fluffy creature. When he played the sound, Kylo recognized the scream from the night before.

“Hey, Hux,” Kylo said. “It kinda looks like you.”

“Sounds like him too,” Cardo said.

“Shut up,” Hux snapped as he stared at the projection. It didn’t even stand at knee height. “That’s what was outside our tent making that racket? That thing?”

“Can’t believe you were scared of a bunch of tiny creatures,” Kylo said.

“You were scared too!” Hux shouted. “In fact, you’re the one who tried to hide in my chest!”

“I was trying to make you feel better!”

“Oh? And the tears and saying that you were sorry you were always so mean to me?”

“That never happened!”

“I knew I should have recorded it!”

“The only thing you would have picked up would have been you crying!”

“As if I would be frightened of some tiny animals! I have to deal with much worse things on a daily basis! Just look at you and your Knights!”

When Hux mentioned the Knights, Kylo noticed that they had taken off. They could have stayed in the forest and continued to argue, but instead, Kylo started to follow them. Although he’d seen the animals that had been making the strange noises, Kylo still wasn’t sure he wanted to be out there alone.

Hux followed him, and as they were walking, they heard a loud screeching sound. Kylo jumped and immediately grabbed hold of Hux, who wrapped his arms around Kylo. They were still holding on to each other when the Knights came out of hiding, Trudgen holding his datapad.

The projector showed another type of avian, that one ghostly white with large, black eyes and Trudgen played the screeching sound again. Slowly, Kylo started to let go of Hux and the Knights snickered.

“Looks like you were both pretty scared,” Cardo teased.

“Of a tyton bird,” Trudgen said. 

“And we got a nice little video so the others can see too,” Vicrul said, holding up another datapad. 

“Give that to me!” Kylo shouted as he ran towards Vicrul, but the Knight was already moving. He threw his broken scythe at Kylo, and he pushed it out of the way with the Force. Knowing that Vicrul was faster than he was, Kylo decided to cheat and pulled the datapad from him with the Force. As it was floating towards him, a blaster bolt hit it in midair, disintegrating it and Kylo turned to see Hux with his blaster out.

“Nice shot,” he muttered.

“It’s too late,” Vicrul said. “Already sent it to Kuruk.”

“If that gets out, I swear I will kill every last one of you,” Hux threatened.

“Your boyfriend’s hot when he threatens us,” Cardo said.

“Have him do it again,” Trudgen added.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Hux and Kylo shouted at the same time. They looked at each other and Kylo had to think about that. They weren’t in any kind of relationship — they’d only agreed to cuddle a little, nothing more. But Kylo really wanted it to be more.

“I mean,” Kylo said. “We could be. If you wanted.”

“I do not have time for such trivial things,” Hux said. “However, if you desire a less formal relationship than our co-commandership, where we meet in our private quarters in our off duty time and share drinks and a bed, that could be favorable.”

“So boyfriends,” Vicrul muttered.

“Can I shoot him?” Hux asked.

“If you like,” Kylo said with a shrug. It wasn’t as if the Knight’s didn’t regularly shoot at each other. If Hux wanted to join in on their training, Kylo didn’t have a problem with that.

Hux aimed his blaster and fired, but Vicrul had already moved out of the way. Hux took another shot which just narrowly missed and then holstered his blaster. “If nothing else, he’s good target practice.”

“Shoot him whenever you like,” Kylo said. 

“Perhaps this relationship is a good idea after all,” Hux said.

Kylo grinned. The wildlife might be obnoxious, but at least it had brought Kylo closer to Hux. He’d put up with murderous creatures anytime if it meant being with Hux.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [twitter!](https://twitter.com/Battle_Walrus)


End file.
